Questions, answered.

A phone number ties your chats to your legal identity and your contacts. You only need a username. People find you by your username or QR code, and you choose who gets it.

No. Messages are encrypted on your device and only the recipients' devices hold the keys. Our server delivers sealed envelopes it can't open. The security page lists exactly what the server can and can't see.

Nothing. No phone number, no e-mail, no contacts, no IP addresses logged and no tracking or analytics. Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted, so the server can't read them. The privacy policy lists the little technical data the server needs to deliver your messages.

Follow the step-by-step guide: download the app, install it, buy a licence key, pick a username, write down your 24 recovery words, set a PIN and say hello.

Use your Recovery Key (and recovery PIN, if you set one) on a new phone to get your account back. Without it nobody can restore the account, including us. Chat history lives on your devices, so link a second device if you want a copy.

Every plan has full end-to-end encryption. Plans differ in devices, file size, backup space, call size and group size. The pricing page lists the current plans and what each includes.

A key is a one-time code. Buy one on the buy page (“New account — get a key”), then either enter it when you create your account, or in the app open Settings → Licence → Enter key. Each key works once and adds its plan's length (shown on the pricing page). Nothing renews automatically.

Yes. On the buy page choose “Existing account — upgrade or extend” and type your username (or tap Upgrade or extend in the app's Settings → Licence, which fills it in). We only confirm that the username exists, then apply the purchase to that account as soon as the payment is confirmed. No login and no key. The same plan extends your end date; a higher plan switches you to it right away and turns your remaining days into days of the new plan at the same value; a lower plan while a higher one is active is added as extra days of your current plan, again at the same value.

Crypto lets you pay without giving us a name, an e-mail or a card number. Payments are processed by NOWPayments, which supports many coins. Card payments may come later.

Keep the order page open: it checks every few seconds, and blockchain confirmations can take a while. If you closed it, open find my order in the same browser, or use the private order link you saved. Still stuck? Contact us with your order id (never the secret part of the link).

A partial payment doesn't release keys automatically. Pay the rest on the same invoice, or contact us with your order id and we will sort it out by hand.

Yes. Buy up to 10 keys in one order and give them away. Each key can be redeemed once, on any account.

The app reminds you a week before. After the end date you get 7 days of grace with everything still working. Then the account becomes read-only: you can open the app, read your chats, make and restore backups and see your contacts, but you can't send messages, make or join calls, or upload files. Your contacts still see you as usual. Renew any time by username on the buy page (“Existing account — upgrade or extend”) or with a key in Settings → Licence, and everything works again straight away. Nothing is deleted. Buying again during grace or after expiry starts the new period from the day you pay.

In the app: Settings → Account → Delete account. It takes effect immediately and frees your username. If your app doesn't show that option yet, message @frozenchat in the app or e-mail us. Details on the delete your account page.

Yes: unused keys within 14 days, and always if something went wrong on our side. Licences are sold only on this website, never in the apps or through Apple or Google, so refunds come from us. See the refund policy.

Block them from the chat menu or their profile: they can no longer message or call you and aren't told. To report abuse, message @frozenchat in the app or e-mail us with their username. Read our community guidelines and child safety standards.

Privacy policy, terms of service, refunds, community guidelines, child safety, law enforcement and responsible disclosure. All of them are also linked at the bottom of every page.

It's coming to the App Store. Meanwhile, the web app works in Safari once linked to an Android phone.

All three need a phone number to sign up; Frozen Chat needs only a username. Read the honest side-by-side comparisons with Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram, or learn more about using a messenger without a phone number.

A note you write in the app and send as a link. It opens once, in any browser, then self-destructs; the key stays in the link and never reaches our server. See self-destructing notes.

Yes. Buy up to 10 keys in one order and hand them out. See secure messaging for business.

Proven, widely reviewed building blocks: libsignal for 1:1 chats (with post-quantum PQXDH), OpenMLS for groups (with a hybrid post-quantum suite), and SFrame for encrypted group calls. Keys are created and kept on your devices. New to this? Read what is end-to-end encryption? and post-quantum encryption, explained.

The Chat with us button on this site is handy for quick questions, but it is not end-to-end encrypted. For anything private, message @frozenchat inside the app, where support chats are end-to-end encrypted like every other chat.